Method of impressing designs upon pile fabrics



w. R. "r600 Sept. 22, 1942.

METHOD OF IMPRESSING DESIGNS UPON PILE FABRIC Filed Aug. 16, 1938 ATTORNEY I Patented-Sept;

METHOD OF IMPBESS PILE F William R. Todd, Shelton, Conn,

Sponge Rubber Products Company,

ING DESIGNS UPON ABRICS assignor to The Shelton,

Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application August 16, 1938, Serial No. 225,251

4 Claims.

This invention relates to fabrics bearing designs either in relief or impressed into the substance of the fabric and also relates to improved methods for producing fabrics carrying such designs. Particularly the invention relates to designs of this nature produced in pile fabrics and to fabrics whose bodies are warped to produce the design and backed by a layer of sponge rubber for making the design permanent and for other purposes.

In textile fabrics possessing a pile or nap a design may be produced by bedding down the naturally upstanding fibers of the pile or nap.

It has been proposed to hold the depressed pile fibers firmly down against the woven body of the fabric by impregnating it with glue or gum to make the design permanent. In part, this has been considered necessary because-the body of the fabric has remained fiat and undistorted so that restoration of the pile or nap to its original upstanding condition would impair or obliterate the design. V

An object of these improvements is toimpart to a fabric, and preferably to a textile fabric whether or not possessed of nap or pile, and in prisoned within a confined space bounded by moldingsurfaces.

A further object is to determine selectively and at will the configuration of the decorative design to be imparted to the fabric by making use of a loose or removable template, stencil or other pattem-like device interposed between the free or pile carrying face of the fabric and the mold surface which borders upon the confined space. This, it has been discovered, comprises a means for effectively depressing or bedding down pile or nap in those surface areas of the fabric which are contacted by the template or stencil device so that there results a marked contrast in appearance between the pile surface which is so bedded down and the pile surface which is not. The contrast in luster of the fibers so produced emphasizes the design beyond the mere effect of warping the body'of the fabric, itself.

such manner that the fabric retains a cloth-like flexibility, a permanent decorative design delineated partially by relatively raised and relatively depressed portions of the flexible body of the fabric, and partially, if the fabric possesses a pile or nap, by the contrast in light-reflecting characteristics of an upstanding and a bedded down pile or map. 1

A further object is to render the decorative design absolutely permanent and proof against obliteration by bonding against the back, or pileless surface, of the fabric a continuous sheet-like layer of sponge rubber whose face which contacts with the surface of the fabric conforms to a warped contour of the body of the fabric so that the sponge rubber underlies and covers both the relatively raised portions and the relatively depressed portions of the fabric. These raised portions may comprise a panel-like area surrounded: by the depressed portions or the depressed portions may comprise a panel-like area surrounded by the raised portions.

Afurther object of the invention is to warp or distort the body of the fabric by means of the force exerted by an expanding plastic, as for instance, sponge rubber compound when the latter is "blown and then vulcanized in bonded contact with the back, or pileless surface, of the fabric while both fabricand'compound are im A still further object is to increase this contrast in the degree of luster exhibited respectively by the upstanding and bedded down pile by a novel process of depressing the pile by means of the' pressure exerted thereupon by an expanding plastic while the fabric and the template or stencil device and the plastic are being conveyed together between two traveling belts through a zone of sumcient heat to cause the plastic, such as sponge rubber compound, to blow and expand and then to vulcanize into permanently set sponge rubber securely bonded to the back surface of the fabric. It is found that this process serves to so bed down the pile or nap of the fabric that the fibers thereof tend to be aligned in a more common direction. This increases their light-reflecting ability and produces more luster than is exhibited by fibers bedded down in diverse directions of alignment.

. A further purpose of the invention is the provision of fabrics of novel appearance having decorative designs impressed thereupon and permanently maintained therein by my improved processing steps, examples of which are explained in the following description in which reference is had to the accompanying drawing wherein:

' Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the pile carrying face of a textile fabric carrying decorative designs imparted thereto by the improved methods herein disclosed.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view taken in section on the plane 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar View taken in section on the plane 3-3 in'Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of a templatelike pattern device used to produce the design near the right end of the fabric in Fig. 1.

Fig. is a detail perspective view of a stencillike pattem device used to produce the design plate I3 and stencil while other portions of the fabric body with its pile face are forced upwardly past the plane of the lower surfaces of the template and stencil and into the vacant spaces or hollows adjacent thereto. These vacant spaces or hollows are indicated in Fig. -6 at I9. In Figs. 2 and 7', after the expansion and vulcanization of the compound into the sheet-like body 22 of ingheat in any suitable processing machine, the

sponge, rubber compound being shown as it appears before the heat causes it to blow and exand. p Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 showing the effect upon the body of the fabric, and upon the pile carried by its upper surface, of the heat applied to the sponge rubber compound as it travels, such compound here being shown as having become vulcanized into permanently set sponge rubber bonded to the wa ed body of thefabric. While any fabric having suitable pile or nap or even a fabric without pile or nap may be subsponge rubber having an upper impaneled face, spaces I 9 are seen to be occupied but incompletely filled by the embossed body or'carcass of the fabric and the expanded rubber 22.

1 For reasons which will be apparent, the 'flbers of the pile which are encountered by the lower surface of the template I3 and stencil it are sub.- jected to materially greater pressure as they are squeezed against said surface by theupllft of the expanding sponge rubber compound than are the v fibers of the pile which are lifted into the vacant jected to the treatment contemplated by thisinvention for imparting a design thereto, I prefer to employ any of the commonly known textile fabrics or cloths possessing a nap formed by fibers of the body threads brushed up for this purpose by well known processes, or formed by loops of pile fibers whose uncut ends are wedged within the interstices of the woven body of the fabric. The latter type of fibers comprising a pile is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

Such fabrics may be taken in the condition they are found in the market and provided on the back, or pileless surface, thereof with a thin layer of sponge rubber compound or other suitable plastic in a manner evenly and completely to cover such surface of the fabric.

In Fig. 6 such facing of sponge rubber compound appears at 0, above and in contact with which, is the body I I of the fabric whose opposite face carries the uniformly and freely upstanding pile l2. The fiat surfaced template-like pattern device l3 of'Fig. 4 is shown resting freely and without pressure upon the top of the pile surface of the fabric as, is also the fiat surfaced stencillike pattern device ll of Fig. 5. All of these parts in Fig. 6 are sandwiched between a lower flexible conveyor belt l5 and an upper like conveyor belt it. Both of belts l5 and it, of which only a short stretch is shown in Fig. 6, may in Y their entirety be endless belts traveling. from left spaces l9 toward the surface of belt it. While the intensity of the pressures against different areas of the pile face may be determined by relationships between the thickness of the template or stencil, the weight of the woven body of the fabric, the upstanding length of the pile fibers, the

I and top hot plates l8, in general such relationto right at preferably the same linear speed, and

carrying with and between them, all of the said working materials for imparting to the fabric the design of these improvements. The lower belt may be supported, and slide in fiat surfaced contact with, the lower hot plates l1 above which the upper hot plates [8 are sufficiently spaced to initially cause no-squeezing of any of the material carried between the conveyor belts.

As the belts and the materials conveyed between them progress substantially in unison past successive hot plates, the heat delivered by the latter through the material of the belts to the space therebetween causes the sponge rubber comships may be chosen as will impart fiat surfaces to f the raised areas of the fabric in hollows l 9 without producing enough pressure thereof against the top conveyor belt ii to squeeze the pile thereagainst sumciently to permanently depress it or bed it down. The resulting product is illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3;, wherein the pile fibers which are left freely upstanding appear at It, while the pile fibers which have been bedded down against the body I! of the fabric are indicated at I2.

Referring particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, the two bedding down of the pile fibers ina common direction of alignment generally lengthwise in the direction of travel of the conveyor belts I5 and 86. It is assumed that this bedding down of the fibers in a common direction of alignment results fromthe travel of the materials between the conveyor belts while the sponge rubber compound expands and exerts its pressure against the body'of the fabric. A superior ability of the bedded down fibers to reflect light results and enhances the contrast in appearance between the design and its background.

These improvements, however, are not confined to performing the plastic heating step of the process while the latter involves travel of the materials beingtreated. The heavy broken lines in Figs. 2 and 3 represent sections of an upper stationed mold 20 and a lower stationed mold 2| which may be separable '11 any well known way to admit the materials to be processed and then I fixedly stationed in their relationship as shown or squeezed against the bottom surface of temand heated in any well known way to cause the "blowing" expansion and vulcanization of the sponge rubber compound or otherplastic withcompound to the back of the possesses the same areas of the body of the fabric as in the raised areas, it being seen that this can be accomplished by the use ofa suitable impaneledmold section tended to cover out travel being involved. Fig. 2 illustrates a recess sunk in the face of mold section 20 to accommodate the raised area of the design bearing fabric while Fig. 3 illustrates aboss protruding from the face of mold section ill to form the depressed area of the design bearing fabric.

Regarding the materials employed in a preferred embodiment and practicing of the invention as-herein shown, the conveyor belts l5 and I6 may be of canvas suitably surfaced if desired to produce a smooth face for contact with the work; and the template I! and stencil l4 may be made of fibre or of fabric impregnated with suitable hardening substances, but in any case should be impervious to warping or deterioration from the effects of a temperature sufficient to vulcanize rubber.

The sponge rubber compound proposed may be replaced with pre-molded sheets of ordinary or solid rubber bearing impaneled surfaces having design shaped recesses registering with overlyins projections or template shapes in the upper mold section and thus be bonded to the body of the fabric in a manner to warp the same into conformity with the pattern by the use of some adhesive. The fibers of the pile would be correspondingly embedded or glued down by the pressure between the mold sections employed to squeeze the body of the fabric into distorted conformity with the-impaneled upper surface of the bed down said pile.

pre-molded rubber sheet, and a designed fabric will result whose flexibility depends upon the softness and the thinness of the rubber employed.

- Here, as in the case of the use of sponge rubber,

the impressed designis maintained permanently in the body of the fabric by the cling of the impaneled surface of the rubber sheet thereto.

In the application of a sheet of sponge rubber fabric, a continuous length of the fabric together with a continuous length of the compound may be played off from respectively separate supply rolls and passed in iace-to-face contact through suitable rolls for causing the fabric and the compound to adhere. When the assembled fabric and compound strip is then fed into a vulcanizing machine between the conveyor belts i5 and I6, designs of any character may be imparted successively along its traveling length by the freedom to choose difierent template and stencil devices for insertion between the top conveyor belt and the pile surface of the fabric as the fabric continuously enters the machine. As the vulcanized product leaves the machine this continuous fabric strip with its rubber backing may becut into suitable lengths bearing the same or different designs and thus a large daily output of selectively designed product is possible by this novel and continuous process of imparting designs to the physical substance of a pile fabric.

Many modifications of the product and steps in the process herein described to illustrate the invention will occur to. those skilled in the art; as for instance backing the'body of the fabric with a facing of rubber or sponge rubber which thickness in the depressed underneath as well as on top of the materials to be processed. Hence the appended claims are inand functions 7 herein described that are fairly embraced within their terms.

vmanent design in both that the said pile is 7 sign to a I claim: '1. In a process for the pile and carcass of a limp woven pile carrying fabric, the steps which comprise, disposing adjacent areal portions of the pile carrying face of said fabric carcass toward and in areal register with ad- Jacdnt flat pattern forming support surfaces located respectively in relatively offset parallel planes, blowing sponge rubber compound tocause it to expand while incontact withsaid fabric carcass-inall of its said areal portions while confining said expanding compound and carcass and pile ina manner to cause said compound to press the carcass and pile of said fabric simultaneously toward all of said. adjacent offset flat support surfaces with an areally distributed force sufllcient to emboss and oflfsetthe entire thickness of said carcass in certain of said areal portions from itsoriginal normal alignment with the entire thickness of said carcass in others of said areal portions, and so predetermining the volume expandability and degree-of confinement of said compound in relation to the extent of offset of said pattern forming support surfaces squeezed against only the nearest of said surfaces with sufficient force to 2. The method of imparting a permanent deflexible woven fabric having a pilous face consisting of initially'upstanding pile fibers. which consists in, flanking said pilous face of the fabric by means of adjoining relieved and depressed mold surfaces, confining in surface contact with the back of said fabric a continuous sheet-likebody of uncured sponge rubber compound with the aid of a mold wall fixedly spaced from said mold surfaces, so .proportioning the thickness of said compoundandits capacity to allvariations of and substitutes for the particulanmaterials; forms said depressed surfaces expand responsive to 'heat" in relation tothe space between said mold surfaces and said mold wall that the maximum expansion of said compound is capable of pressing certain-areal portions of the pilous face of saidfabrlc against said relieved mold surfaces with sufficient force permanently to bed down'the pile fibers in said certain portions but is incapable of pressing other areal portions of said pilous face against with sufficient force permanently to bed down pile fibers in said other areal portions, and heating said sponge rubber compound sufficiently first to cause the said expansion and then to vulcanize the compound into adhering contact with the back of the fabricu 3. The method of imparting a permanently bedded down deformation to upstanding pile fibers of a flexible pile fabric for affecting the luster of said pile over patterned partial areas of the pilous face of said fabric and without admixture of extraneous substance to the pile thereof, which consists in, presenting to said initially upstanding pile fibers in said partial areas pressure resistive mold surfaces relieved to delineate a pattern and flanked by adjoining hollows, simultaneously subjecting the back of said fabric opposite the said resistive surfaces and also opposite the said hollows to the pressure of panding sponge rubber compound in a manner to emboss the fabric somewhat into said hollows and to squeeze the pile fibers in only said partial areas against said relieved resistive surfaces with sufficient force and in the'presence of sumshallow impaneling a perinitially free and a continuous body of heated exlatter;

permanently bedded-down deformation, so prerelating the volume and expansive properties of 'saidjcompound to the depth of said'hollows that the maximum expansion of said compound forces said' pile into said hollows insufflciently far to cause the fibers of said pile to become bedded down therewithin, andvulcanizing said compound into adhering contact with said fabric thereby 'to maintain the embossed shape of the and also opposite the said hollows to the pressure of a continuous body of heated expanding sponge rubbe'rcompound in a manner to squeeze the pile fibers in only said partial areas against said .re-

lieved resistive surfaces with sumcient force and in the presence of sufficient heat to impart to said squeezed fibers apermanentLv bedded-down deformation, so prerelating the volume and expansive properties of said compound to the depth of said hollows that the maximum expansion'of v said compound forces the pile and carcass of said fabric sufllciently far into said hollows to produce panel-like relative offsetting of adjoining flat faced sections of said fabric vcarcass but insufliciently far to cause the fibers of said pile to be bedded down withinsaid hollows, and vuicanizing said compound into adhering contact with said fabric thereby to maintain said ofisetting of said fabric sections.

WILLIAM RVTODD. 

